Ken Kesey's Negative Portrayal of Women
             Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest portrays women in a very unflattering fashion. In the book, all the women except for the two prostitutes and the Japanese nurse, are depicted as threatening, terrifying, controlling, evil beings. Nurse Ratched, Chief Bromden's mother, and Billy Bibbit's mother are portrayed as women that cause men to suffer and lose their masculinity, whereas Candy and Sandy are portrayed as men's playthings.
             Women in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are pretty much divided into two categories: the older ones, like Nurse Ratched and Billy's mother, who
             believe in suffering and shame, and McMurphy's friends, prostitutes who are representations of men's needs. McMurphy's friend Candy's name itself represents a
             man's sexual desires, while her personality consists of her being flattered when men flirt with her. To the men, she is just a play thing and a person to act out their
             sexual fantasies with. Before Candy and Sandy arrive at the hospital for their "date", the men talk about one of the other nurses, discussing "how it would be to lay
             that little nurse with the birthmark who went off at midnight." The inappropriate talk shows the little respect the men have for a woman with authority over them.
             Nurse Ratched, is perhaps the most negatively depicted woman in the novel. When this novel was first written, women did not have the freedom that they have today. In that time, if women wanted to be successful, they would have to adopt the attitudes of men to be respected and accepted in the work place. Nurse Ratched took it one step further and also dressed the part to be seen as a more dominating woman and to hide her womanly curves. Because of her man-ish appearence, this made her terrifying to the patients. Kesey portrayed the nurse this way because if she was just another woman, the patients would not have treated her with the ...